Dr. Graff Discusses Optimal Dosing of Tamoxifen in Breast Cancer

Stephanie L. Graff, MD, director of the Breast Program at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute at HCA Midwest Health, and associate director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses patient factors used to consider the optimal treatment duration of tamoxifen in patients with breast cancer.

For patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), there is not a well-defined treatment regimen to use based on clinical studies. In fact, recent clinical trials have randomized patients to receive either the standard 5 mg of tamoxifen or no tamoxifen. A rising treatment option in this setting has been the aromatase inhibitors, which have shown a slight survival advantage over tamoxifen.

Graff says that deciding the right approach for patients will be determined by age, side effects that they have on the medication, comorbidities, and the features of their DCIS. This includes the disease grade, how it was managed surgically, and whether or not radiation therapy was utilized. Researchers are taking all of these factors into consideration in order to formulate the best treatment strategy, Graff concludes.